Wouldn't You Like To Know
by ModernScribe
Summary: Ten years after Spider left the Hammersley, he and Bomber meet in a bar and proceed to catch up. Hints of Spider/Bomber romance if you look hard enough. Spoiler alert.


**Disclaimer: I need a disclaimer.**

**Spoilers: Seasons 2-3. Lots of situation and events, but no real plot references.**

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Wouldn't You Like To Know**

"Bomber? Is that you, mate?"

Bomber turned away from the bar at the sound of the familiar voice. Her face broke into an uncontrollable grin. "Spider?" Without warning she jumped up and wrapped her arms around her former shipmate in a ferocious hug. "I haven't seen you in ages!"

Spider grinned down at her. "I meant to write, but I've just been so busy."

"You get a promotion and suddenly you're too good for us, is that what you're saying?" Bomber released him from her hug, but her tone was still playful.

"Well, yeah," Spider said, his grin widening. Bomber slapped him playfully on the arm. He rubbed it in mock pain.

"Was that really necessary there Bomb?"

"You haven't changed a bit Spider!" Bomber laughed.

Spider pretended to look hurt. "I have too changed! Look!" He stepped back. For the first time since his arrival, Bomber got a full look at him.

Was she misremembering or had he always been this handsome? Certainly he'd buffed up. Gone were the spidery (no pun intended) little arms and the narrow shoulders. In their place were two good-sized biceps and evidence of a hearty six-pack. His hair was still as spiky as ever, but his boyishly handsome face was more lined and tanned than before. There was no doubt about it, in the ten or so years since she'd seen him last, he had definitely changed.

"I don't know Spider, you still seem like a baby to me." Bomber shrugged. "Sorry, mate."

"Yeah fine, a'right, you win. " He moved to her side and leaned up against the bar. "I wouldn't want you to chuck something at me."

Bomber laughed. "It's been a long time since I had a reason to throw eggs at anyone, I'm afraid I might be out of practice."

"You mean my replacement never tried anything?"

"Oh he tried, but no one could make me mad like you could."

Spider chuckled as he glanced down at his feet. "So how've you been doing? I heard you left the Navy."

"Yeah, about three years ago now." Bomber looked around the bar and swirled her drink. "Once you and Buffer and Nav left, it just wasn't the same. I stuck around for a long time, but it was just too weird."

Spider nodded. "It was hard leaving, I really missed you and the team, but my new shipmates were really nice blokes too." He smiled. "What do you do now then?"

"What do you think?" She met his gaze and smiled again. "I'm a chef at the restaurant down the pier."

"Really? I can't say that it surprises me though, you always were a better cook than a sailor."

"Hey!" Bomber shoved him so hard that he stumbled before righting himself and laughing. He sat down next to her at the bar. "I could still take you on you know," she warned.

"I'd like to see you try," Spider challenged. "I've learned a lot in the past few years."

"Done quite well for yourself haven't you?"

Spider shrugged. "You could say that."

Bomber snorted. "Last I heard you were on the fast track to being an XO. What happened with that?"

"Oh I became an XO. That was a while back though. Now I'm chief officer of the HMAS Revolt," Spider said modestly. "It's a patrol boat like the Hammersley."

"You're kidding me!" Bomber looked genuinely shocked. "But you're so young! They actually trusted you with a ship of your own?"

"Yeah, I know, shocker isn't it? It's not a big boat, but we get some action."

"I still can't see you being captain."

"It's true. My ship's at the harbor. Want to take a look?" He stood up.

Bomber put her hand on his shoulder and gestured for him to sit back down. "Not right now there Spi, let's talk a bit more. Have you heard anything about the old team?"

Spider shrugged again and ordered a beer. "Not too much. Swain got a job portside as you probably know. Buffer's captain of a frigate somewhere. Last I heard, 2Dads was serving on some submarine. Guess they figured he couldn't do any harm there. Everyone else has pretty much dropped off my radar. How about you? What do you know?"

"I don't know much more. Nav left around the same time you did and I haven't heard anything from her since. RO comes by every once in a while for a drink. They offered him a promotion, but he likes it where he is. Says it's the safest position on board. He's as pessimistic as ever."

"Are you and him going out then?" He sounded casual, but the glance he cast her way indicated this was more than an off-handed remark.

Bomber made a face. "God no. He's like my brother--my older brother mind you. Besides, he's totally not my type."

"What is your type then?" He took a swig of beer.

Bomber twisted uncomfortably on her stool. "Have you heard about XO and the captain?"

Spider chose to indulge her obvious attempt to change the subject. "Only that XO took an instructing position and he runs some fishing boat for tourists or something."

Bomber grinned and leaned into him. "Well she and the boss are married now."

"You're kidding!"

"I am not!" Bomber shook her head emphatically. "Rumor has it that's why the boss left the Hammersley in the first place. Apparently he and the X had a thing before she joined the crew. Somehow they got back together and one thing led to another. He quit and they got married. They have a few children or so I've heard."

Spider looked considerate. "I did always think there might be something between those two."

"Yeah right, you liar." Bomber made to slap him again.

"No really!" Spider said defensively, ducking her arm. "You really need to stop that or I'm going to think you don't want me around." He started to get up, but again Bomber stopped him.

"Alright, alright, I'll stop hitting, just don't go!"

"Since you asked so nicely." He resumed his seat. "Still can't see X as the maternal type though."

"I don't know." This time it was Bomber who looked considerate. "She could be surprisingly gentle if she wanted to be. Remember that pregnant Chinese woman who died and Swain had to do an emergency cesarean to save the baby?" Spider nodded and she continued. "Well when she held that little boy, she looked down right motherly."

"She certainly had the disciplinary side down. I can never look at a bathroom toilet without thinking of her."

"You did kind of deserve it though."

"I did not!" Spider cried indignity.

"Did too. You were always getting into trouble."

"Not always," he said.

"Really?" Bomber lifted an eyebrow. "I never knew a person more prone to getting knocked out than you. Or for getting kidnapped."

"Now I know you're exaggerating."

"Hardly. Let's see, there was the time Charge was stabbed, the time the X was shot, oh and we can't forget the time Campbell knocked you out with a tree branch."

"Okay, excluding that," Spider tried to break in, but Bomber continued.

"You were practically in the ward room more than anyone else on board. If you weren't in some fever-induced delusion after being run over by a boat, you were being bandaged up after cutting yourself with one of your whittling knives. And let's not even get into how many times you burned yourself in my galley."

"Hey, I was always being distracted in your galley."

Bomber huffed. "Nice try, Spi, but I was always with you in the galley and nothing ever distracted me."

"That's my point," Spider mumbled into his beer bottle.

Bomber appeared not to have heard him as she continued. "Sometimes I used to think they named you after the wrong insect. You're more like a cockroach. Chop off your head and you'd probably just keep going."

"Two things." Spider held up two fingers. "Number one, spiders are arachnids not insects."

"You say potato, I say potato." Bomber grumbled.

Spider chose to ignore her and went on. "Number two, you got into your fair share of scrapes too."

"Oh yeah, name some," Bomber challenged with a grin.

"You got yourself trapped in a hold with a load of poisonous snakes, you fell overboard going after a bracelet, you ended up on a boat with a convicted drug dealer and a murderer, and you were held hostage by a totally different drug dealer that you saved from drowning only hours early almost loosing your own life in the process. All this not to mention the time you fell off a cliff into a radioactive pit. Oh yeah, I'm the dangerous one," Spider said sarcastically.

"But you were right there with me for most of that," Bomber pointed out. "I maintain that you were the source of all my bad luck."

"Maybe, but note that you are still here. Perhaps you're looking at in the wrong way. Maybe I'm not your bad luck charm, but your good luck one instead."

Bomber paused to consider this for a moment. "Nah, you were my bad luck charm."

"Ouch!" Spider pretended to fall off his chair. "Way to hurt a bloke's ego!"

"Sorry mate, but nine times out of ten, it was me saving your sorry arse not the other way around."

"Now I know that's not true."

"Sure it is. Who got you out of the snake hold? Who kept you from sinking after you jumped overboard after me? Who nursed you when you tried to break the record for highest body temperature?"

"Of course I wouldn't have been in any of those situations had I not been with you."

"Maybe you wouldn't have fallen overboard, but you might still have been trapped with the snakes and probably still would have gotten coral poisoning. You can't blame that last one on me. I wasn't even there."

Spider laughed. Somewhere along the lines, she had gotten a little too passionate. He'd forgotten how easy it was to get her worked up. He'd really missed her short fuse.

"What?" Bomber cried at his laughter. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, Bomb. It's just you and I really did make a great team didn't we? A couple of real troublemakers we were back then, aye?"

"Yeah," Bomber said with a light chuckle. "I guess you're right. And then you had to ruin it all by leaving."

"I had to," Spider said more seriously.

"Why? Because you got promoted?"

"Partly, yeah." He swirled the last dregs of his beer before tipping them into his mouth.

"Why else then?"

Spider met her eyes. "I requested the transfer because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to stop myself from breaking the rules."

Bomber tried to lighten the suddenly heavy mood. "That's just silly. There practically wasn't a single rule you didn't break. You almost started a war between France and Australia if memory serves."

"Not all of them." There was no hint of humor in his voice and his eyes continued to boar into hers. "There was one rule I didn't dare to break."

Bomber's breath hitched. She couldn't tear her gaze from his. "Which one?" she asked softly.

He leaned in. They were only inches apart.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He said suddenly, leaning back again.

Bomber blinked. "You're so evil!"

Spider laughed. "Aren't I though? Come on, let's have another drink. This'll have to tide me over until my next shore leave."

"When is that exactly?"

"Don't know. When do you plan to be back here?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Bomber said slyly.

Spider joined her in laughter.

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A/N: I watched the whole series in a week and just couldn't rest until I wrote something. After several sappy YouTube music fan videos and the season 4 promo, this came to mind. Bomber and Spider are just too cute to be forgotten. I know I left out what happened to Charge, but I just couldn't fit him in anywhere. You'll just have to figure out what happened to him on your own. This is purely a one-shot. I will not be writing a sequel. **


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